Alan Hutton has heaped praise on England midfielder Kalvin Phillips after his “outstanding” performance against Croatia in their opening game of Euro 2020.
Phillips has been a mainstay for Leeds United for the past five seasons.
He has now played over 200 times for his boyhood club and his game has improved significantly under Marcelo Bielsa.
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His form for Leeds led to him being awarded his senior England debut towards the end of 2020. Since then, he has totted up nine caps for his country.
Phillips was named in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for the European Championships.
The midfielder made his major tournament debut against Croatia. He started alongside Declan Rice in midfield.
The Leeds star put in a man-of-the-match display as England beat the 2018 World Cup finalists 1-0.
Hutton has told Football Insider that Phillips was “unbelievable” against Croatia:
“He was phenomenal, wasn’t he? Absolutely outstanding.
“Probably a lot of people were sitting there thinking: ‘Ugh, Kalvin Phillips playing with Declan Rice, they’re too defensive. We don’t really need this, we want another attacker on the pitch.’
“But oh my goodness, he was unbelievable. He actually didn’t just play that defensive role. Declan Rice played there and he got forward. It’s something we don’t normally see but he’s obviously got that in his locker.
“He was driving forward, he was tenacious, he was breaking up play, assisting for the goal. He was everywhere and that’s probably the best performance I’ve seen him play. He’s an integral part now. For me, there’s no way he can be dropped.”
Back in December, West Ham midfielder Rice insisted that “stopping” Phillips was key to their 2-1 victory over Leeds:
“The game was opening up, you could see that. Once we’d beaten their first couple of players, it was an open game and for players like Said [Benrahma] and Jarrod [Bowen] to get on the ball.
“Tonight was special and special for Said, as well. What a player.
“We put him on their holding midfield player Kalvin Phillips. He is such a good player when the ball is at his feet. Everything that goes through the Leeds team goes through him, he really stopped him tonight.